British and Irish charities are mobilising to feed more than half a million people in Malawi as the food crisis affecting millions in Southern Africa intensifies.
Already in Malawi by many estimates more than 100 people a day are dying of hunger and / weakened by hunger / of preventable diseases. Zimbabwe and Zambia also badly affected.
This year's poor harvest is expected to provide only temporary relief for the better off and large gifts of food through the World Food Programme and USAID* are not expected to arrive until much later in the year.
British and Irish charities are now calling on the EU to support their work to prevent the death toll spiralling upwards in July, August and September.
The EU is the one major donor active in Malawi yet to make a substantial commitment to the aid effort.
Disasters Emergency Committee Chief Executive Brendan Gormley said: “The international community has been slow to respond to the food crisis in Southern Africa and is now running to catch/up. Only large scale and immediate action can avert the risk of starvation facing millions of people.”
Although the flooding that destroyed much of last year's harvest and dry weather which has withered this year's crop are the primary causes of the food crisis, politics and economics have also played their part. Malawi's grain reserve was recently sold off without clear explanation and international support for the government was substantially cut amid allegations of corruption.
To make a donation, contact:
UK
Save the Children / Brendan Paddy or Erica Boardman / 0044 207716 2281 / 0044 20 7 716 2061
ActionAid / Jane Moyo / 0044 207561 7633/7614
World Vision / Mr Jan Butter / 0044 1908 841020
Everychild / Paul Dimmick or Katrina Lawson / 020 7749 3072 / 0044 207749 2477
CAFOD / Martha Clarke / 0044 207326 5557
CARE International UK / Kaye Stearman or Chloe Bagram / 00 44 207934 9346 / 7934 9359
Ireland
Concern / Macdara Doyle / 00 353 1 417 7730
Per ulteriori informazioni e per fare una donazione, visitare il sito www.savethechildren.org.uk